Huawei P30

Huawei launched the Huawei P30 in March 2019. The phone features a 6.1-inch AMOLED display with a resolution of 1080×2340 pixels.

The Huawei P30 runs on Huawei’s custom EMUI 9.1 based on Android v9.0 (Pie). It packs in an octa-core HiSilicon Kirin 980 SoC and uses a 3650mAh battery. You get 6GB RAM along with 128GB internal memory, expandable up to 256GB via microSD card. It comes with dual-SIM support.

As for as the cameras, the phone sports a triple-camera setting on the rear – a 40MP primary camera (f/1.8 aperture); a 16MP secondary camera (f/2.2 aperture), and a third 8MP camera (f/2.4 aperture). There’s a 32MP selfie camera (f/2.0 aperture) at the front. It has sensors like an in-display Fingerprint Sensor, Ambient Light Sensor, Proximity Sensor, Accelerometer, Compass, and Gyroscope. Also, it supports Face Unlock.

The Huawei P30 is available in five colour variants – Black, Aurora, Amber Sunrise, Breathing Crystal, and Pearl White. In India, it costs around Rs. 62,290.

Viewed from the front, the Huawei P30 looks like any other mid-range smartphone featuring a notch-display. But once you turn the phone around, it’s a whole different story. The back panel flaunts off a glossy sheen, what Huawei calls a ‘Transcendent Iridescence’ – it reflects light and creates subtly exotic hues. The choice of colours is another great thing about  Huawei P30. Both the front and back panels get Corning Gorilla Glass protection.

The back panel houses the triple camera module aligned vertically along with an LED flash placed just below. The camera module doesn’t sit flush with the body – there’s a slight bump that results in a wobble when the phone kept on a flat surface. The corners are slightly rounded, giving the phone a more square-shaped profile than curved. The right side of the metal frame holds power and volume buttons, whereas the left side houses the dual-SIM slot. There’s no dedicated microSD card slot though. At the bottom, there’s a 3.5mm headphone jack, a USB-C port, and a single speaker grille. It’s a great thing to find the 3.5mm audio jack made a comeback in the Huawei P30 when both the Huawei P20 and Huawei P30 Pro didn’t have it.

Although the front display does not feature the fancy 3.5D curved glass as seen in the Huawei P30 Pro, it’s not such a bad thing after all – the phone fits snug in hand and allows for comfortable one-handed usage. Apart from the drop-notch on top and a small chin at the bottom, the display is bezel-less, thereby delivering an expansive viewing space.

The phone sports a 6.1-inch AMOLED panel with a resolution of 1080 x 2340 and a pixel density of 422 PPI. It has a 19.5:9 aspect ratio. Although the screen size is smaller compared to other mid-range flagship phones like the  Huawei P30 Pro, Galaxy S10, or the Moto G7 Play, it makes for excellent grip and one-handed usage. Also, a small screen entails a sharper and crisper viewing experience.

The display colour contrast seems to bear a ‘cooler’ tone. Thankfully, Huawei offers a host of customization options to tweak the display temperature and colour contrast. Since it has a pixel density of 422 PPI, the text, images, and icons look quite vibrant and sharp at max brightness (don’t expect it to match Samsung’s AMOLED features though). Again, you get two colour modes to choose from – Normal and Vivid. While Normal is excellent for routine tasks on the phone, Vivid works best for watching movies or videos.

The display has HDR10 support. So, you can stream HD content on Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. To reduce the eye strain in low light settings, you get a blue light filter.

The Huawei P30 uses the HiSilicon Kirin 980 Soc, the same chipset that powers the Huawei P30 Pro. Ever since their launch, Huawei HiSilicon chipset has continued to impress us, and the Huawei P30 is no exception. An octa-core HiSilicon Kirin 980 processor powers the phone. The processor consists of three cores manufactured by an 8nm fabrication process – a dual-core CPU clocked at 2.6GHz, another dual-core CPU clocked at 1.92GHz, and a low-power quad-core CPU clocked at 1.8GHz.

Coupled with 6GB RAM, the processor leaves no scope for complaint. It is snappy and efficient. Apps load within a few milliseconds; navigation between apps in seamless, and multitasking is a breeze. When it comes to everyday tasks, the phone delivers a flawless and lag-free performance. Gaming on the phone is a pleasant experience for the most part. While the phone can handle lightweight games exceptionally well, for graphics-intensive games like PUBG, Asphalt, Tekken, etc., you need to run them either on low or medium graphics settings. This will ensure that there are no frame rate drops and lags to hamper the gaming experience.

Coming to the software, Huawei’s EMUI leans towards delivering more of an iOS experience than a stock Android experience. While the EMUI has improved significantly over the past few years, it still does not offer an entirely clutter-free experience, thanks to the lack of an application tray. However, you get plenty of Google elements, an always-on display feature, and enough customization options to adjust the UI according to your needs.

As mentioned before, the Huawei P30 boasts of an impressive set of cameras, that would be good enough for most users. While it is a definite improvement on the Huawei P20 Pro, it is somewhat lagging behind the P30 Pro. The reason? The Huawei P30 replaces the 5x optical telephoto of the P30 Pro with a 3x zoom feature. Also, the primary lens of the P30 lacks optical image stabilization (OIS) and the TOF (Time of Flight) camera present in the P30 Pro.

However, the rear cameras of the P30’s do not fail to impress. Just like the P30 Pro, it has a 40MP primary sensor, although with a slower f/1.8 aperture. Moreover, just as the P30 Pro, the primary sensor of the P30 uses the same whizzy “SuperSpectrum” technology for enhanced low-light performance. SuperSpectrum technology is built on the RYB (red, yellow, blue) pixel arrangement rather than the standard RGB (red, green, blue) arrangement.

The camera locks focus quickly and can shoot snappy images every time. In daylight conditions, clicking pictures in the Auto Mode delivers excellent results – the photos look sharp. There is absolutely no delay in clicking the shutter button and capturing a photo.  It is stunning to see that the dynamic range of the camera is excellent. Captured images come out looking crisp and loaded with detail. As is customary, the camera app offers a variety of standard shooting modes like Aperture, Night, Portrait, Photo, Video, Pro modes, to name a few.

The low-light performance is fantastic as well, thanks to the AI-powered HDR+ mode and SuperSpectrum. Even in dark scenes, the camera can click bright and detailed photos. You can take decent low-light shots in the Auto mode as well. As for the 3x zoom, it allows you to boost to a 5x ‘lossless’ zoom – the 3x zoom is further enhanced by computational photography and a high-resolution primary sensor that can click focused shots. Coming to the 16MP ultrawide lens, it is perfect for macro shots with rich detail. You can record videos in Full HD resolution. Even videos look detail-oriented, smooth, and stable. Also, you can record 4K videos at 60fps.

The 32MP selfie camera captures incredible shots in favourable light settings. You get many fun filters to choose from and also a dedicated Beauty mode. Even the selfie cam has a great dynamic range, so your selfies always look good.

The Huawei P30 comes with a 3560mAh battery with fast charging support. For light to medium usage involving routine tasks like calling, texting, social media browsing, video streaming, etc., the phone can easily last a day on a single charge. However, if you’re into binge-watching or extensive gaming, the battery charge will drop faster. Thanks to the 22.5W supercharger and fast charging support, it doesn’t take long for the battery to get amped up again. In just half an hour, the charge reaches 50%, which is quite impressive!

Overall, the Huawei P30 seems like a great choice in the mid-range segment. It fits in quite snug in hand, has an excellent set of cameras, a fantastic battery, and a robust processor. It may not be as powerful as the P30 Pro or as premium as the Galaxy S10, all in all, it delivers excellent performance in all aspects. The phone feels like a flagship device and costs much less than Galaxy S10 or Pixel 3. So, if you can deal with the lack of curved display and wireless charging, go for the Huawei P30!